Improvement in flattening and annealing glass



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL RICHARDS, OF LONG-A-COMING, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN FLATTENlNG AND ANNEALINGGLASS.

'To all whom it may concern? Be it known that I, SAMUEL RICHARDS, of

Jackson Glass Vorks, Longa-Coming, Glouthe ordinary revolving Wheel or table having on it four or any other preferred number of ilattening-stones; but I so construct the oven that only one of these stones shall be in the flattening-compartment exposed to the action of the fire at the same time, by which arrangement the flattening-compartment is maintained at the required temperature and the remaining stones are allowed to cool as they pass around, and are thus retained at a temperature the most advantageous for the operation of flattening and cooling the glass. The stones which are not within the attening-oven arealso by my arrangement protected from the dust, ashes, and other injurious matter from the fire, their surfaces being preserved in a clean state. In the oven as ordinarily arranged small fragments of wood and .ashes from the re alight upon the stones,

and these, when the glass is flattened upon them, materially injure its surface. I have added an additionalue also to heat the roller or cylinder in the stick-hole, and I usually form the oor of this hole of a stone which covers and is sustained above the revolving attening-stones under an arrangement to be presently described.

The number of cylinders iiattened in an hour in the ovens now in use is about forty; but in one of my improved construction I have been able to flatten a hundred in the same length of time, and that with a diminished consumption of fuel, and giving a greatly-improved surface to the glass, its polish being well preserved.

The respective compartments of the oven- .that is to say, the stick-hole and the flattening and cooling ovens--may be variously arranged, while the essential features of my improvement remain unchanged.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation of my oven on the side which has Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 3,035, dated April 6, 1843.

the opening of the stick-hole and into the coolingeoven as I usually construct i't. Fig. 2 is an elevation of that side or end which has the opening into the attening-oven, and Fig. 3 is a horizontal section in the line a: of Fig. l.

A A A are three of the iiattening-stones, the fourth being hidden by the stationary stone B, which constitutes the floor of the stick-hole. The outline of the fourth flattening-stone is shown by dotted lines. C is the opening into the stick-hole, and D that into the fiattening-oven, within which one stone (marked A) is represented as situated, two of the stones A A being in the annealingoven and the fourth under the floor B of the stick-hole. The part of the structure which contains myimprovements is comprised within the portion designated by the letters d d a, a of Fig. 3. The iiattening-oven A and the stick-hole B are separated from the annealing-oven by a hanging partition-wall b b,which is supported by the iron rods c o c in a manner well known,.so that the revolving table may pass under it. The stick-hcleB is in like manner divided off from the attening-oven by hanging partition-stones dal and e e, which are sustained by iron rods ff, and these also sustain the rear end of the floor-stone B of the stick-hole, allowing the table to pass under it.

E is an opening for passing the cylinder or roller from the stick-hole intoV the flatteningoven. The hanging stone e e, which forms the back of the stick-hole, extends across at e @'but is arched at its lower edge, so as to allow the cylinder to be passed into the flattening-oven.

.I is the opening into the cooling or annealing oven, as usual.

F, Fig. 2, is the Ordin-ary feedhole for the fuel which is to heat the flatteningoven,which opens into it at F in the ordinary way, and G, Fig. l, is the feed-hole of an additional iiue that I employ, and that serves also to heat the iiattening-oven and the stick-hole. v

H is a stone which incloses that part of the flatteningoveninto which the additional ilu'e opens, the heat from which keeps the stickhole B at a proper'temperature by its action through the opening E between the stick-hole tends front to back of the stick-hole below the partition CZ d of Fig. 3 and above the floorstone of B.

I is the shaft forcausingthe flattening-stone table to revolve in the ordinary Way. The dotted lines g g,Figs.1 and 2, mark the course of the additional Iiue, of which the feed-hole is seen at G. This ue opens into the upper part of the compartment C oi' the flatteningoven. Although an additional flue is thus employed by me, the quantity of fuel required is much diminished, as above stated, the heat beingapplied immediately in the part required and diffused in such proportion asnot to be in any degree wasted.

Having thus fully described the nature of my improvements in the oven for liattening and annealing glass, what I claim therein as new, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

I. The so constructing and combining the Various parts thereof as that no morethan one of the flattening-stones,Whatever may be the number used, shall be exposed to the action of the ire during the operation of flattening, the others being protected from its action by an arrangement of the respective parts substantially the same with that herein set forth-that is to say, two or more of them being in the cooling-oven and one under the floor of the stick-hole.

2. The combining of the additional ue With the attening-oven, so as to enter said oven in the immediate vicinity of the stickhole, in the manner herein fully made known.

vSAMUEL RICHARDS.

Witnesses:

THos. P. JONES, JOHN Hrrz. 

